Mandated by Senate Bill 3 from the most recent legislative session, the new rules create criteria for the content, activation and termination of regional and statewide power outage alerts.
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New rules to alert the public about potential statewide power outages have been approved by state regulators.
Mandated by Senate Bill 3 from the most recent legislative session, the new rules create criteria for the content, activation and termination of regional and statewide power outage alerts. The Texas Public Utility Commission adopted them on May 26.
Under the rules, the PUC executive director or his or her designee may recommend that the Texas Department of Public Safety issue, update, or terminate power outage alerts. The rules further specify that the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (“ERCOT”) must notify the PUC when ERCOT’s forecasts indicate system-wide generation supply is likely to be insufficient within the next 48 hours; or when ERCOT issues system-wide load shed instructions. Outside the ERCOT region, transmission service providers must notify the PUC executive director when it has received system-wide load shed instructions from the applicable reliability coordinator.
When applicable, the power outage alert must provide instructions on whether system-wide load shed is occurring or expected to occur imminently; and where electricity customers can seek assistance.
The new rules create a new section of the Texas Administrative Code (16 TAC 25.57), and were mandated by the Texas Legislature after more than four million Texans lost power during last year’s weather emergency. More information about the rules can be found on the PUC website, under Docket #52287.